Hottest 1970's Television Crime Drama Actor

Well, it was 198o, but I would definitely include Tom Selleck in Magnum P.I.

James Garner was such a stud.

Why in the hell ain’t Barbary Jones - buddy Ebson on this list?

It always amazes me that Frank Cannon does so well with the ladies. Clients, daughters of friends, etc... the guy was hit upon more than one would assume for such a big guy.

Jack Klugman in Quincy ME.

Mike Connors from "Mannix"

Another voter for Mannix.

Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky)

Paul Michael Glaser has not had a very happy life. Losing both is young wife and daughter to HIV/AIDs.

Jake Glaser (son) though HIV+ has grown up healthy and is very active in foundation set up in memory of his late mother and sister.

James MacArthur from "Hawaii Five-0"

Robert Urich, "Vegas"

Michael Ontkean, "The Rookies"

Kent McCord, "Adam 12"

When I was younger, I had a crush on Robert Wagner in "Switch." But I lost interest in him by the time he starred in "Hart to Hart."

TBH, I though the only thing attractive about Mannix was Peggy.

And I didn't notice it as a kid, but when I caught reruns later on, that Mannix dude had a seriously bad wig.

God bless.

I can't tell you thing about Banacek, but I voted for George Peppard because on the rare occasions that I was allowed to stay up late enough, I would watch the show just to look at him.

I also thought Ellery Queen (Jim Hutton--Timothy's father) was adorable. Also, I believed with all my heart that someone named Ellery Queen had to be gay, especially since the character always spent time with character actor David Wayne.

Yo! What am I, chopped liver?

Young Michael Douglas from Streets of San Francisco gets my vote.

James Garner gets my vote because he is the whole package but Telly Savalas’ overripe sexuality is a close second. The Queen’s favourite TV show was Kojak and she request Telly sing at the Royal Variety Show.

Agreed with others about 1970s Michael Douglas (yum), James MacArthur, and Kent McCord.

Additional choices: Lee Majors, Richard Hatch, Chad Everett, and David Soul

But who could resist that adorable Mark Shera!

[quote] The Queen’s favourite TV show was Kojak and she request Telly sing at the Royal Variety Show.

Which queen was that? Jim Nabors?

Cannon Fat Detective in his Lincoln Continental Mark IV.

After several seasons Buddy Ebsen wanted to take things a bit easy ( he was already a bit long in tooth to be a private investigator when series started), but didn't want series to end. So things were shook up on Barnaby Jones. Betty Jones (Barnaby's DIL) began taking on more involvement in business side of things. Previously Barnaby had kept his DIL pretty much confined to secretarial and assistant roles.

Other shake up was bringing in young Mark Shera as Barnaby's young nephew "Jedediah Romano "J.R." Jones". Both JR and Betty took on larger roles, again allowing Barnaby Jones to hang back a little.

Lee Meriwether often speaks in interviews how proud Buddy Ebsen, herself and others were of Barnaby Jones being "clean" and "family entertainment", even for a crime/detective drama. 1970's crime dramas were often about gritty and unseemly urban goings on, but Barnaby Jones tried to keep a lid on that sort of thing. Oh they had some interesting plot lines like lesbian madam who offs one of her girls (that she was having an affair with), and of course the odd rape/murder (was there not a 1970's crime show that didn't have at least one episode devoted?), but otherwise....

Mark Shera in his tight jeans provided the other bit Barnaby Jones was lacking, male eye candy.

Buddy Ebsen may have been a decent enough actor, but he likely didn't make many females shiver none each week as Barnaby Jones, especially in the ever prime 18-49 demographic.

Mark Shera SWAT

Frank Cannon may not have been to everyone's tastes, but Quinn Martin used plenty of other male eye candy often enough to make price of admission worth bothering.

Keith Andes, Clu Gulager, Bradford Dillman, Andrew Parks, Tab Hunter, George Maharis...

@R1

Well if you're going to open things up to 1980's "Simon and Simon" had Tom Selleck beat by miles.

[quote] After several seasons Buddy Ebsen wanted to take things a bit easy ( he was already a bit long in tooth to be a private investigator when series started)

As a little kid I remember the Mag magazine spoof. I think it was called Barnacle Bones.

Watching Barnaby Jones in action always cracks me up. It's a good thing Mr. Jones only dealt with white collar sort of investigations mainly. He wouldn't last a day in "da hood" of 1970's.

Agree with Robert Blake/Baretta. I loved his big, beefy arms.

[quote] Agree with Robert Blake/Baretta. I loved his big, beefy arms.

I got ya' beefy arms right 'ere!

He’s a cop. So that should count as a crime show.

Always thought Larry Wilcox was hotter...

Nice info, R19. In case you're interested, MeTV will start showing Mark Shera's episodes of "Barnaby" starting this coming Monday night/Tuesday morning at 4 a.m.

R29

Thought they were getting up to introducing Mark Shera's character soon. In past few weeks MeTv has shown episodes where Betty Jones took on an increasingly active role in her FIL's business.

For all his good looks Mark Shera didn't have much of a career after Barnaby Jones. He did S.W.A.T for one season, then balance of work was as a jobbing actor, a role here, role there....

Mark Shera was more cute than handsome, and not an especially good actor (average for TV). Once the cuteness wore off there really wasn't much left for him but has-been nostalgia shows like Murder She Wrote and Love Boat.

Michael Douglas on Streets of San Francisco was GOR-jess. Insanely handsome.

That said, Rockford WAS, as somebody said before, the total package.

Richard Hatch from The Streets of San Francisco made me all tingly “down there” when I was a kid. Sadly, dead from Pancreatic cancer in 2017.

[quote]For all his good looks Mark Shera didn't have much of a career after Barnaby Jones. He did S.W.A.T for one season, then balance of work was as a jobbing actor, a role here, role there.

True, Shera didn't do much post-Barnaby (his stint on S.W.A.T. was actually before Barnaby), mostly just a few guest appearances on several shows before apparently dropping out of the business altogether. I read somewhere that he and Lee had tried to get Buddy to do a "Barnaby" reunion TV-movie at some point in the '80s but Buddy wasn't interested, so it never happened.

Kevin Dobson in Kojak. Bloody Hell, he was sexy.

If I recall correctly, James Garner was very hairy. Slurp.

Frist time saw James Garner without a hairpiece was in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Me you queens!

For [italic]Mannix[/italic] fans, here's a young Mike Connors.

Who was the hunk on Adam 12? Kent Cord?

Kent McCord. So handsome!

Mike Conners' agent was Henry Wilson. Hmmm.

One Step Beyond

^ the episode

James Franciscus in Longstreet.

A different look for David Birney as Serpico.

James Franciosa...Longstreet

R47 See R45

The actor in "Longstreet" was James Franciscus. Perhaps you're confusing the name with Anthony (Tony) Franciosa who starred in "Matt Helm" around the same time.

Parker and Shaun as the Hardy Boys.

Did they share that cucumber?

My first crush was James MacArthur, followed by Kevin Dobson, Michael Douglas and James Garner.

Pierce Brosnan---"Remington Steele."

As a teenager in the 70s, I didn't find Telly Savalas sexy at all in Kojak. I realized I much I matured after seeing a picture like this in the 80s.

What I would do to slide that speedo off of him...

Peter Lupus, after this moment.

It seemed scandalous at the time.

Peter Lupus was the only reason one watched and still watches (reruns on MeTV) Mission Impossible.

My mother adored Barry Foster in Van Der Valk

r49 Parker Stevenson has a huge cucumber - just ask Kirstie Alley.

R34

No, Mark Shera did Barnaby Jones in 1973, then S.W.A.T in 1975.

MS also did national tour of Godspell in 1973 as well.

Mark Shera's Linkedin page

Interesting, R58. I'm almost tempted to press "connect" to see if he would accept (somehow I doubt it).

R57, "Barnaby Jones" began in 1973 but Mark didn't join the show until the fall of 1976 after "S.W.A.T." (which ran from 1975-76) was canceled. He was on "Jones" from '76 until it went off the air in 1980.

Long before NCIS, Mark Harmon starred as Officer Mike Breen in the short-lived series "Sam" about a canine unit.

@ 61

[quote] Never work with children or animals.

Poor guy, had to work them again on Flamingo Road.

Telly Savalas was oozing sexiness. I forget how sexy he was and then see a picture of him and *wham* damn he's sexy

Vincent Baggetta in The Eddie Capra Mysteries.

I went to Boston University with Mark (Shapiro) Shera, both of us graduating in 1972. He never got cast in any of the school productions except for a funny new play written by our classmate Danny Lipman who went on to be the writer/producer of Queer As Folk. But Mark was a sweet handsome guy, and became more famous than anyone else in our class. And, yes, he was straight.

Mark Shera was a very talented actor. It's a shame he didn't do anything else really noteworthy after "Barnaby" ended its run.

Did Mark Shera ever appear shirtless?

Yes, I loved James MacArthur on Hawaii Five-O, but that vain asshole Jack Lord never let him do much on the show.

I know Michael Ontkean is DL's favorite, but Sam Melville (who did a softcore porn once!) was my favorite from The Rookies.

R65

Mark (Schapiro) Shera straight? How does a nice boy from Bayonne, NJ manage to reach his age without marrying or even a hint of dating?

Hugh O'Brian here. Check out the right side of his swimsuit. He might have been bushy down there.

Apparently, Mark never found what he was looking for in a girl.

[quote] But Mark was a sweet handsome guy, and became more famous than anyone else in our class. And, yes, he was straight.

Oh honey, no. Just because he repeatedly turned you down doesn't mean he was straight.

When I was a gayling I did think that Ephram Zimbalist Jr was a hot daddy. He was on the FBI.

Even at 8 years old Jim Rockford made me feel funny